Jewish History

Content type
Collection
an aerial view of the Masada complex

Women at Masada

In the first century BCE, King Herod the Great built a fortified palace atop the mountain of Masada overlooking the Dead Sea. Seventy years after Herod’s death, during the First Jewish Revolt against Rome, Masada was occupied by bands of Jewish rebels, including families. This entry surveys the literary and archaeological evidence of women among the rebels at Masada.

Mirror made of silver and copper alloy. Nude female figure-handle with vivid dark green patina with some brown areas.

Ministering Women and Their Mirrors

Women who ministered at the entrance of the Tabernacle gathered around to donate their copper mirrors (Exodus 38:8), which were then smelted down to make the basin where the priests would wash before entering the sanctuary. The women may have served as guards, warding off evil with their mirrors. Midrash, however, conjectures that the women used these mirrors to seduce their husbands in Egypt, raising up the hosts of Israelites.

Leslie Feinberg
January 27, 2021

Leslie Feinberg and the Power of Queer Jewish Memory

Avivit

After reading Stone Butch Blues, I feel like I finally have a history and a sense of memory as a queer Jew.

Topics: Community Organizing, LGBTQIA Rights, Jewish History
Mónica Unikel-Fasja standing before the Torah ark in an elaborately decorated synagogue with carved candelabras, menorahs, and columns.

Monica Unikel

Mónica Unikel-Fasja is a chronicler of Jewish immigrant stories. She created a dozen guided walking tours in Mexico City and revitalized the oldest Ashkenazi synagogue as a bastion of Jewish culture, designating it a treasure trove of history fully accessible to the general public.

Lilith Magazine Fall 1987 (crop)
January 12, 2021

Jewish Feminist Texts Help Me Get through the Pandemic

Molly Fraser

I will continue to access Jewish feminist texts for wisdom and fortitude when I need them.

Topics: Feminism, Jewish History
Photo of Mollie Steimer with Lined Background
December 23, 2020

Mollie Steimer: Finding a Radical Approach to the American Criminal Justice System

Liana Smolover-Bord

Mollie Steimer dedicated her life to advocating for prisoners. Though we’ll likely never fully live up to her anarchist ideals, we can fight for radical solutions.

Topics: Community Organizing, Jewish History, Politics and Government
Belinda Brock's parents crop
September 16, 2020

The Language of the High Holidays

Belinda Brock

Rosh Hashanah connects us to each other and to our roots—even virtually.

Topics: Jewish History, Rosh Hashanah
Shofar

Episode 45: Shofar in the Desert

Listen Now

No sound is more iconic for the Jewish New Year than that of the shofar blast. This year, many Jews will hear the sound of the shofar virtually. Can We Talk? producer Sarah Ventre is one of hundreds of shofar blowers who will share their shofar blasts with their congregations over Zoom. In this special Rosh Hashanah mini-sode, Sarah ventures into the urban desert in Phoenix, Arizona to practice blowing her shofar. She shares her thoughts on what the shofar blast means to her this year, during the global pandemic.

Nicodemus Historic Site
September 10, 2020

The Forgotten History of 19th Century Black and Jewish Settlements in Western Kansas

Emily Cohen

In the late nineteenth century, Russian Jews and Black Americans settled in western Kansas to start a new life. Was it the promised land they imagined?

Topics: Jewish History
Sketch of Ray Frank, 1893
August 24, 2020

Ray Frank, A Complex Figure: Let’s Talk about Honesty and Self Care

Eleanor Harris

In March, my RVF piece about Ray Frank went up on the blog; however, parts of this blog post trouble me.

Topics: Women's Rights, Jewish History, Rabbis
Illustration of a Plague Doctor wearing beak mask.
August 21, 2020

Antisemitism During Coronavirus: From Pandemic to Pandemic

Ari Fogel

Antisemitism is, unfortunately, not a unique response to a pandemic.

Topics: Jewish History, Antisemitism
2019-20 Rising Voices Fellow Madeline Canfield's Notebook
August 14, 2020

My Worn and Faded Yellow Notebook, a Living Record

Madeline Canfield

In my notebook, I recount anecdotes that bear the mark of the past I am reckoning with today.

Topics: Jewish History, Writing
Composite image of Golda Meir, Bertha Pappenheim, Sarah Schenirer, and Bella Abzug

Online History Courses

Dive into Jewish women’s history from the comfort of your living room with JWA’s online history courses. Here, you can:

  • Learn more about this virtual program
  • Access information for upcoming courses
The Plot Against America Promo Image
June 30, 2020

"The Plot Against America" and the Jewish Insult

Ilana Diamant

The Plot Against America exemplifies how "Jewish" speech illuminates the diversity in class, culture, and politics of the Jewish people.

Topics: Jewish History, Television

Episode 42: Ode to Ladino (Transcript)

Episode 42: Ode to Ladino (Transcript)

Karen Sarhon and "El Amaneser"

Episode 42: Ode to Ladino

Listen Now

Ladino, or Judeo-Spanish, was once the mother tongue of Sephardic Jews in Turkey and other Jewish communities that once thrived around the Mediterranean. Now, there are only about 100,000 Ladino speakers scattered throughout the world. In this episode of Can We Talk?, we meet Karen Sarhon, a woman on a mission to keep Ladino, and the culture surrounding it, alive. Freelance journalist Durrie Bouscaren brings us this story from Istanbul, Turkey.

Inés of Herrera

Inés of Herrera was a twelve-year-old prophetess whose message of salvation appealed to the conversos of Castile at the end of the fifteenth century. The Inquisition was anxious to quickly deal with this threat, trying many girls and women as heretics as of 1500; their confessions reveal details about this movement.

How Yiddish Changed America cover cropped
March 5, 2020

What's Yiddish Got to Do with It?

Justine Orlovsky-Schnitzler

Ilan Stavans and Josh Lambart’s new anthology, How Yiddish Changed America, and America Changed Yiddish, is the perfect text to help you test the waters of Yiddishkeit. 

Topics: Jewish History, Non-Fiction
Photo of Sarah Schenirer
February 19, 2020

Tracing the Roots of Jewish Women's Education

Ellie Klibaner-Schiff

Sarah Schenirer started the revolution—that is still in process today—to create equal Torah learning opportunities for women.

Topics: Jewish Education, Jewish History, Talmud
Jewish Women of Color Marching
December 17, 2019

Top Ten Moments for Jewish Women in 2019

Judith Rosenbaum

JWA CEO Judith Rosenbaum lists her top ten moments for Jewish women in 2019.

Topics: Jewish History
A woman with curly hair
October 29, 2019

Just a Small-Town Curl

Jennifer Greenberg

I have always struggled to accept my curls.

Topics: Jewish History
Yiddish Motifs
October 7, 2019

Yiddishes, Alive and Dead

Sophie Hurwitz

For many American Jews, Yiddish is the language of a mythicized shtetl, but today the language is still very much alive.

Topics: Jewish History
Susan Sontag Mural
June 24, 2019

A Visit to the Tucson Jewish History Museum

Justine Orlovsky-Schnitzler

Visiting a Holocaust Museum as a Jew can be meaningful, painful, and sometimes, exposing.

Topics: Jewish History
"Jewish Feminisms/American Visions" Conference Poster
March 19, 2019

Seven Lessons from our Feminist Foremothers

Judith Rosenbaum

JWA’s Executive Director Judith Rosenbaum reflects on her experience at the “Jewish Feminisms/American Visions” conference at the University of Michigan.

Topics: Feminism, Jewish History
Forest Dark Book Cover
March 6, 2019

Review: Nicole Krauss's "Forest Dark"

Justine Orlovsky-Schnitzler

Forest Dark is an exploration of what happens when the relationships, material objects, and geographic locations that have come to constitute an identity fall apart.

Topics: Jewish History, Fiction

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